


Killing Time

by mrv3000



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-05-30
Updated: 2006-05-30
Packaged: 2017-10-19 19:00:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/204187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrv3000/pseuds/mrv3000
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose makes a great first impression.  Well, I say "great"...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Killing Time

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to josephides and splash_the_cat for betaing and to elismor for working through some character issues!

The first three hours had consisted of yelling, hitting the forceshield (ow, by the way), pacing, examining the plastic on her shoe, pacing again, fiddling with the sink in the corner, and finally trying to scratch "Laraiths SUCK" on the wall with her thumbnail. Those had been the _exciting_ hours. The next two hours Rose spent lying on her back, occasionally looking at her watch and staring at the moving hands.

It was a glorified stopwatch now, since the time it displayed was meaningless. But if she had never met the Doctor it would be 8:43. No clue what day though, or even if that was morning or evening. Would it be June there now? It felt like it should be June. Not that it really mattered.

Rose tapped her foot against the wall.

Some help the Doctor had been. One minute he was going on about celebration fireworks and she was being introduced to some important Lairaith (who, to her, had looked like every other comically round, blue-green multi-flippered creature on the planet) and the next minute she was being hauled away. And he had just stood there, gaping at her -- eyes wide and looking a bit dazed.

Useless!

She considered thinking about an escape plan again, but it all seemed fairly pointless. Beyond the forceshield of her cell there was just an empty outer room with some sort of teleport-y type pad at the far end. One of the very rude Laraiths used a square key thing on it when they brought her here, so not much chance there even if she magically made her way through the forceshield. But most annoying, the air vents were _tiny._ Didn't they know they were supposed to be big enough for someone to escape through? They clearly needed to watch more spy programs...

Rose shook away her thoughts before she started down yet another winding path.

"I'm going to go mental soon," she announced to the room.

"What, more than the usual?"

Rose blinked at the doorway. The Doctor stood on the other side of the forceshield, sonic screwdriver out and pointed at the wall.

"Oh, it's about time!" She jumped to her feet and dashed to the doorway.

"Gratitude, gratitude."

"Five hours. Seriously, that's five hours of my life down the drain," she said, poking her finger at the wall near the faint "L-A-R" scratchings. She might have finished that if she had known exactly how to spell "Laraiths."

"Not big on 'me' time?" He continued to fiddle with the screwdriver.

"At least they could have had something in here for me to do."

The Doctor stopped and stared at her with an amused smirk. "What, in prison?"

"There must be some sort of universal law that says how you have to treat a person when they're locked up!"

"There is. It just doesn't involve entertainment. Not in this century at least."

Figured. "Well, next time you'd better get captured with me so I'll have someone to talk to. Did I already mention the boredom?"

The Doctor snorted. "Oh that's brilliant right there. Then we'd both be stuck." He turned his attention back to the wall and with a final hum, the forceshield flickered and then disappeared.

"So what's the plan?" Rose asked, stepping out into freedom.

The Doctor leaned forward conspiratorially. "Sneaking back to the TARDIS."

"My hero." She rolled her eyes.

"Hey! I rescued you!" He ambled to the far side of the room and pointed the screwdriver at another panel. "Eventually."

"Right," Rose scoffed as she followed.

The Doctor turned back to her. " _I_ wasn't the one who, on a live broadcast covering the tri-solar-system area I might add, offended the Grand Deputy Potentate of the Third Order of Laraiths on a massive scale."

"Oi! All I did was shake his hand!"

"That wasn't his hand."

"It wasn't? Oh."

The Doctor crossed his arms over his chest.

"OH."

"Yes."

"That's just not right." She rubbed her hand on her jeans. Really, really, _really_ hard. "Well, you'd think that he'd be...I don't know...thanking me instead of locking me up!"

"Okay, you," the Doctor jabbed a finger at her, "never get to touch another alien anywhere ever again. Ever. Now come on." He held out his hand.

Rose shook her head, attempting not to smile. "Sorry. Not allowed to touch aliens."

He started for her right hand, clearly changed his mind, then grabbed her left and pulled her onto the teleport pad. "It's a wonder I put up with you," he said as he gave her hand a squeeze.

*

They materialized not fifty feet away from the TARDIS, which Rose had to admit was pretty impressive maneuvering. She smiled and waved as they sprinted past a small group of Laraiths pointing at her. At least, she was pretty sure they were pointing but wasn't about to stick around to find out.

Not exactly _sneaking_ , Rose decided, as much as fleeing with flair.

A couple of whirs of the TARDIS and a hand washing later and they were back outside, this time on a deserted hill overlooking the city where they had just been. Again, pretty impressive.

"This is more like it," the Doctor announced as he exited, pointing the sonic screwdriver over his shoulder, which extinguished lights coming from the TARDIS. He flicked the bottom of his jacket back and sat on the ground. "We should have a great view here. Mind you, it's not the V.I.P. section, but obviously that's not an option anymore."

"Yeah, yeah." Rose sat down cross-legged next to him, deciding that the ground didn't look _too_ dirty. One would think the Doctor would have at least had some chairs in some back corner of the TARDIS. Well, he probably did, but he just didn't seem to care about stuff like a little dirt.

The Doctor was looking down at the city. "Five hundred years of peace in this galaxy," he said. "Now that's an accomplishment. Three hours of fireworks hardly seems enough for something like that."

Rose followed his gaze. Maybe it was knowing that fact, or just the fading sunlight, but the city seemed to glow. "How'd they do it? Keep the peace, I mean," Rose asked as she pushed back strands of hair that fell in her face. "How'd they get to this point?"

The Doctor looked at her, but Rose swore he was seeing something else. "A million different things. Big things. Little things. Accidents. Plans." His gaze turned towards the sky. "In the end, was it destiny or luck? Maybe it doesn't really matter."

A shower of sparks in the distance caught their attention. Apparently someone had decided to start the party a little early -- shouts and laughter carried up the hill. The laughter of all those peace-loving creatures.

With all those flippers.

Rose softly chuckled as she began to pick at the leaves of an orange, fluffy plant growing near her feet.

"What?" the Doctor asked.

"The look on your face when I...you know," she laughed.

It was the Doctor's turn to roll his eyes, which made Rose laugh harder and add, "And I believe it was you going on about throwing yourself in there and kissing complete strangers!"

"And _I_ believe the key word was 'kissing'."

He was trying to look annoyed, but Rose could tell he was amused as hell. So transparent at times, and at others...

The planet's sun had disappeared from the sky, replaced by two moons. The point of this little trip would be starting soon. Rose looked at her watch, an action even more pointless than before since she couldn't tell in the dim light what time it was...or wasn't. Some old habits apparently refused to die. Rose picked at the plant again as the Doctor leaned back on his elbows.

Not entirely comfortable with the silence, Rose flicked a plant piece at him. "So what took you so long to get me?"

The Doctor paused. "It's all about opportunity." He nodded as if he just now decided he liked that answer.

"When you say 'opportunity'...just how much did you blow up?" Yeah, teasing would help pass the time nicely.

"Are you gonna yap all the way through the show?"

"Hasn't started yet." Rose leaned back on a hand and smirked. "Come on."

"Okay, there _may_ have been a sort of explosion."

"Knew it."

"Really more of a forceful expansion."

"I'm beginning to think you may have a problem," Rose said. "What with the constant need to blow things up and all."

"Expansion," he reminded her. "And to be fair, it wasn't my fault. How was I to know that dumping the most foul drink in the known universe down a rubbish chute would be so...expansive? Yes, there was a sign, but who pays attention to signs?"

"Oh, certainly not you."

"Made a big mess," the Doctor added, clearly pleased with himself.

Rose sighed melodramatically. "Just can't take you anywhere."

"Likewise." He was grinning now -- that much she could see.

She caught herself grinning back like a stupid fool -- so hopeless. Rose restrained herself from throwing more of the plant at him. "So when's this supposed to start?"

"Five minutes," said the Doctor, who obviously had no problem seeing his watch. Or maybe he just knew somehow.

"You sure?"

"I've got perfect time."

"Oh, so _that's_ why we ended up in 1869."

"Almost perfect?"

A flash of light streaked through the sky, followed by a shower of sparks that umbrellaed above them. Rose smiled. "Good enough."


End file.
